


starlight can't hide your tears

by cherry_umbra



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Nonbinary Party Poison (Danger Days), Other, background funkobra, jet is a good bf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherry_umbra/pseuds/cherry_umbra
Summary: Party opens up, and Jet realizes that they aren't as confident as they make you think.
Relationships: Jet Star/Party Poison (Danger Days)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	starlight can't hide your tears

**Author's Note:**

> the doc for this was called "jetpoison to fight the sad".

Being practically glued to someone each night would probably have the effect of you knowing that something was wrong if they weren’t in the morning. So when Jet woke up to Party curled up on the edge of their bed, back facing him, he knew something was up. Every part of him was screaming to pull them close, ask them what was wrong, but he resisted. Party would talk to him when, or if, they were ready.

After a few minutes, Party sighed, hauling themself up and out of bed, pulling on their shirt and jacket. They tied their boots, and walked out of the room. Maybe it was nothing, maybe they just had a nightmare and needed some breathing room, maybe it  _ was _ something. 

Jet made sure to keep an eye on them throughout the day.

Around the others, they acted like they normally did, even though their smile didn’t reach their eyes. Kobra gave his sibling a suspicious look, though couldn’t really do anything from where he was sandwiched between Ghoul and the Girl on the bench. The blond knew his sibling like the back of his hand, sometimes even better than Party themself. If he had even the  _ slightest _ feeling that they were hiding something, he would pull them aside to talk it out. But this time, Party answered his look with a glare of their own, and Kobra put his hands up in a mock surrender. 

The Girl grabbed Party’s arm after breakfast, dragging them away to her room, babbling about some drawing the 2 of them were working on. Neither was seen again until dinner, though they just grabbed their cans of beans and scurried back to her room.

The sun was beginning to set, and Jet was starting to think that maybe it  _ was _ just a nightmare. He had been fixing up his bike most of the day, needing something,  _ anything _ , to keep his mind distracted from worrying itself into a puddle. He wiped a gloved hand across his brow, leaving some grease behind in the process. Jet stood up, stretching, leaning back down to grab the toolbox -

A gentle knock came from the shed door.

... that was odd.

“Come in?” no one in their crew ever really knocked, especially not on the shed door. Girlie was the only one who knocked on every door, after having the misfortune of walking in on Kobra and Ghoul kissing in the kitchen.

The door opened, slowly, almost as if the person on the other side was afraid of what was in there.

It was Party.

In their hands was a folded up blanket and a dirty bottle, probably with water in it.

“You wanna head out?” they asked, in the smallest voice he had ever heard from them.

“Uh, sure. Where to?”

“Dunno. Somewhere. Anywhere.”

“... okay, then. I was just about to clean up in here, if you wanna pull up the Trans AM -”

“No, um, I was… thinking that we could take your bike?”

Party Poison  _ not wanting to drive _ ? Oh, Witch, whatever this was had to  _ bad _ . Really,  _ really _ , bad.

“Oh, alright then. Just… hold on a second, ‘kay?” Jet hurriedly put the toolbox back on the shelf, kicking spare parts out of the way and shuffling through his pockets, trying to find his keys.

He eventually found them in one of the inside pockets of his jacket (no clue  _ how _ they ended up there), and sat down, patting the spot behind him. Party opened the little box taped to the side of the bike, gently placing the blanket and bottle within.

They swung a leg over the other side of the bike, arms wrapping tightly around his waist, and Jet started the engine. 

And off they went, into the fading sunlight.

~~

After about a half hour of driving, Party lightly slapped his stomach, and the bike slowed to a stop.

The place they had stopped at wasn’t that bad, scenery wise. There was a tree nearby, some half-alive bushes, and a collection of not-quite boulders.

Party slipped off the seat, grabbing the blanket and water bottle, looking around for a moment, before laying the blanket down at what they deemed the best spot. Jet walked the bike over to the tree, making sure the thing didn’t collapse at the weight before leaning it against the rough bark. Neither had said a word the entire time, and the worry that had been stamped down earlier was coming back with a vengeance.

Party was lying down, hands folded on their stomach, staring at the stars. Jet laid a respectable distance away, and he could have sworn that their gaze had snapped to him, if only for a moment, with a hint of disappointment. But he did leave an arm partially extended their way, an invitation.

“I…” they stopped, taking a deep breath, “I bet you’re wondering why I dragged you out here.”

The brunet turned his head, gaze full of questions. Realizing that they weren’t looking at him, he said, “A little bit, yeah.”

“It’s… oh this is so  _ stupid _ , I -”

“Party, if something’s bothering you, its not stupid,” nope, not letting them finish that sentence. 

Party’s head turned so fast he was surprised that it didn’t give them whiplash. As if it was such a strange thing to be  _ bothered by something _ .

Tentatively, they took his hand in theirs. Jet gave a gentle squeeze and what he hoped was a reassuring look. Their grip tightened, and brought their interlocked hands closer to them.

“I just…” words were flying around in their head, trying to scramble into something that made sense, “I just feel like I’m a fake sometimes, y’know?”

Jet’s eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything. Party needed to get those words out.

They ran their free hand through their hair, a nervous habit of theirs. “Everyone, all the ‘joys and Dracs out there, see me as… this take no shit, kick you if you look at me, loud ‘nd bold person. But I’m really  _ not _ . I’m just some 20-something year old with  _ no idea _ what I’m supposed to do. I just acted in a way that got people’s attention and convinced them that I’m here to lead this whole rebellion.”

“Party, I…” Jet was at a loss for words. What the  _ fuck _ was he supposed to say in response to that! “I - I didn’t know you felt like that.”

Party’s right hand stopped its raking through their hair, now flopping over their eyes. And they laughed. A self-pitying, tired laugh.

“And that’s the  _ best _ part, Jet! No one notices! Not even Kobra, who reads me like a damn book. Or Ghoul, my best friend. Or Girlie, who has a sense for almost  _ everything _ . I’ve somehow gotten everyone convinced that I’m a fearless leader who’s gonna take BL/ind down a few notches before blipping them outta existence! There’s  _ no way _ anythin’s gonna go wrong!”

They barked out a laugh, gripping Jet’s hand so hard their knuckles turned white. And then. And then.

And then the laughter turned into sobs, and Party practically  _ launched _ themself into Jet’s arms.

“It’s not fucking fair! I’m no hero, ‘m just some barely functioning human being who wanted to live their life with enough color to give the world a headache!”

Jet was never one for words, preferring to use his actions to speak. So he wrapped his left arm (the other was still in Party’s grip, now squished between them) around their torso, and leaned his head against theirs. 

He didn’t know how much time had passed before Party’s sobs quieted down, and they  _ slumped _ against him, sighing with the exhaustion of someone who had just run a marathon in under a minute. They shuffled a bit, releasing his hand from their death grip, hiding their face in his neck and slinging a leg over his. 

“I’m tired, Jet. So, so, fucking  _ tired _ .”

“I know, Party, I know. But you know something?”

They hummed, not bothering to move their head. Jet reached his (now free) hand up and slowly carded it through their red hair. It helped, a little, and a bit more of the tension left Party.

“You’ve got us. You’ve got  _ me _ . Through it all. Even the parts that make it seem like there’s no point in even trying anymore. I’m so sorry you went all these years, thinking that you had to lead everyone and carry all this weight on your shoulders. Party, you may be the most stubborn and ambitious person I’ve ever met, but you’re no… pillar holding up the Zones, y’hear? I mean, you took in a gaggle of people and called them your crew for a reason. Do you know what that reason is?”

There were tears gathering in his eyes now and - yep - Party was starting to cry again. But they weren’t tears of ‘oh Witch everything is horrible’. They were tears of having a weight being lifted off your chest.

They shook their head, even though they knew the answer.

“Because you trust us enough to have your back in this wasteland.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” they snorted, sitting up and pulling him with them. “Well, that’s enough emotional dumping for one night. Finish this conversation in the morning?”

“We’ll make a day out of it. Invite everyone in the desert to a nice picnic, yeah?”

Party grinned, and this time it reached their eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> I'M NOT A MAN, I'M NOT A HERO, JUST A BOY - sorry i couldn't resist.
> 
> come scream at me on tumblr @eclipsed-calderas
> 
> not... really happy with the ending but its late and i wanted it to be done before i went to bed.
> 
> comments and kudos are really appreciated!


End file.
